As you might know, there are two Gujarati conferences in NJ this
summer, and they have both invited Narendra Modi, as per newspaper
sources ( http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jun/20guj.htm?
q=np&file=.htm ) . It is not certain whether or not Modi will be
allowed to come this time, but it is quite alarming that he has been
invited in the first place.

Please find attached a draft of the letter that we plan to send the
organizers of the Gujarati convention on July 7-9th, organized by
the FIA and GANA ( www.fianynjct.org). The letter is to register
protest at the invitation of Narendra Modi as well as Ashok Bhatt,
the main architects of the violence in Gujarat 2002. We are
collecting both organizational endorsements as well as individual
signatures.

As time is of essence, please send in your signatures and
endorsements ASAP. Email them to mail@... .
Also, please circulate this letter widely.

* For organizational endorsements: please send in the full name of
the organization, city,state and also the webpage of the group (or a
one-line description of the group).

* For individual signatures: please send in First and Last name,
city, state (and any relevant affiliation).

Thanks!

===============================

To



Mr. Ramesh Patel, Mr. Rambhai Gadhvi, Dr Sudhir Parikh, Mr. Jayesh
Patel, Mr. Prakash Shah, Mr. Jagdish Patel, Mr. Magan Patel, Mr.
Jitendra Fadia, Mr. Naresh Bhadiadra, Mr. Mahesh Patel

Members of the Organizing Committee, First Gujarati Convention

Gujarati Associations of North America (GANA)

and Federation of Indian Associations-New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut

355 Shawn Place

North Brk, NJ 08902



Dear GANA and FIA,



We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, who believe in a
secular, democratic and pluralistic Gujarat, write to you with deep
concern over reports that your organizations have extended
invitations to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the Gujarat
Health Minister Ashok Bhatt to attend the GANA convention on July 7-
9, 2006 September 2006. FIA-GANA's invitation to Mr. Modi is being
reported by several news agencies [1], while Mr. Bhatt is listed as
an "invited dignatory" on the FIA poster for the conference [2].

If this is true, then we wish to register our strong protest at
these invitations. We believe that GANA's slogan of " Gujarat ni
asmita " (Gujarat's dignity) is only undermined by honoring
individuals such as Mr. Modi and Mr. Bhatt, who have a long record
of participating in sectarian hatred and communalism, and does no
justice to Gujarat's long tradition of hospitality and tolerance.

As you are aware, Mr. Modi and Mr. Bhatt are both regarded as chief
architects of the carnage that engulfed Gujarat in 2002 in which
more than 2000 Muslims lost their lives and 200,000 more fled their
homes, and in which concerted sexual violence against women was
employed to an unprecedented degree.

· Mr. Modi has been charged in an Indian court of law with
crimes against humanity and genocide. He is a member of the
violent and extremist communal organization, the Rashriya Swamsevak
Sangh (RSS) has never expressed regret for his failure to take
preventative measures to stop the violence, indeed took measures or
made statements to incite it, and punished conscientious police
officials who did take preventative measures by promptly
transferring them out to inconsequential postings/assignments. The
policies of the State Government of Gujarat, of which he is the
chief executive, have been and continue to be discriminatory toward
Muslim and Christian minorities; the law is applied and enforced in
a discriminatory manner, and those fighting for justice have been
continually harassed by the state machinery. The Human Rights Watch
in its recent report notes, " The Gujarat state government, led by
Chief Minister Narandra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), not only failed to take appropriate action to
prevent the violence, but has since failed to properly investigate
the crimes committed. It has consistently sought to impede
successful prosecutions of those allegedly involved in the
massacres, leading the Supreme Court and National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) to intervene on several occasions ." [3] Many
other human rights organizations, including Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch, Commonwealth Initiative for Human Rights,
Citizen's Initiative, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL),
People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) have documented the
extensive complicity of the state government, led by Mr Modi in
orchestrating the violence against Muslims in 2002. It is for this
reason that the U.S. government decided to deny him a visa in 2005,
and some Congressmen introduced a resolution "condemning the conduct
of Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his actions to incite religious
persecution ." [4]

· Mr Bhatt also took an active role in instigating and
overseeing planned violence against Muslims in the post-Godhra
carnage in 2002, according to several human rights reports. The
Concerned Citizen's Tribunal Report notes that on 27th February,
2002, "Shri Ashok Bhatt and Shri Pratap Singh Chauhan, met at
Lunavada in Panchmahal district along with others. In this meeting,
the manner and methods of unleashing violence on Muslims were
planned in detail. " [5] Furthermore, several media reports have
established that Mr. Ashok Bhatt was present in the Police Control
Rooms in Ahmedabad [6], where, as Human Rights Watch report
noted, "repeated pleas for help were blatantly turned down. [7]" The
National Human Rights Commission in India also noted the
participation of Mr. Ashok Bhatt in the riots, saying "A number of
persons holding responsible positions in public life alleged
involvement of some Ministers and MLAs in these riots. They
mentioned that Shri Gordhan Zadafia, Home Minister and Shri Ashok
Bhatt, Health Minister were monitoring the progress of riots from
the City Police control room. " [8] Additionally, eye witness
reports collected by the Concerned Citizen's Tribunal suggest that
Mr. Bhatt was responsible for inciting arson and destruction in the
Naroda Fruit Market and the Paldi-Ellis Bridge in Ahmedabad. [9]



We find it shameful that organizations supposed to represent the
collective interests of Indians and Indian Americans in the United
States would choose to invite people such as Mr. Narendra Modi and
Mr. Ashok Bhatt to their conferences, and thus implicitly endorse
and promote their agenda of sectarian hatred and violence.



Yours sincerely,







[1] Two Gujarati conventions vie for attention in US, Sheela Bhatt,
June 20 th 2006, Rediff India Abroad, available at
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jun/20guj.htm?q=np&file=.htm , also
see Speculation rife over Modi's US visa, July 1, 2006, NDTV
available at http://tinyurl.com/o2nbd

[2] http://www.fianynjct.org/event.pdf

[3] DISCOURAGING DISSENT: Intimidation and Harassment of Witnesses,
Human Rights Activists, and Lawyers Pursuing Accountability for the
2002 Communal Violence in Gujarat, by the Human Rights Watch, 2006
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/india/gujarat/

[4] H.Res. 160 in the 109th Congress, available at
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr109-160

[5] State Complicity, in Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat
2002 , Vol 2, available at
http://www.sabrang.com/tribunal/vol2/compgovt.html

[6] Praveen Swami in Saffron Terror, Frontline Volume 19, Issue 06,
2002 writes "Health Minister Ashok Bhat sat in the Police Control
Room in Ahmedabad through the first two days of violence. Given his
portfolio, it was an odd place to be - but not given his past. Bhat,
along with Union Minister of State for Defence Harin Pathak, faces
charges of having incited a mob that murdered a police constable in
the course of communal violence on April 25, 1985"
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1906/19060080.htm

[7] Background to the Violence, in Compounding Injustice: The
Government's Failure to Redress Massacres in Gujarat , 2003, Human
Rights Watch, NewYork, available at
http://hrw.org/reports/2003/india0703/

[8] Report on the visit of NHRC Team headed by Chairperson, NHRC to
Ahmedabad, Vadodra and Godhra from 19-22 March 2002, available at
http://nhrc.nic.in/guj_annex_1.htm

[9] The Accused, in Concerned Citizens Tribunal - Gujarat 2002 , Vol
2, available at http://www.sabrang.com/tribunal/vol2/accused2.html